Cal Western program aids in overturning false convictions

California Innocence Project

Goal: “To seek any and all ethical and legal and ethical avenues for the release of the wrongfully convicted.”

Size: Accepts 12 clinical law students each year to work along side 12 staff members.

Accomplishments: Helped exonerate 10 men, including Banks, since its inception 12 years ago.

Among noteworthy cases: Kenneth March, a San Diegan released from prison in 2004 after serving 21 years, who was wrongfully convicted of murdering his girlfriend’s two-year-old son.

Brian Banks may have lost his best shot at an NFL career, but he has his freedom and reputation back.

And Friday he came to California Western School of Law to thank students and staff members for their assistance in winning dismissal of a rape conviction based on false testimony against him.

“Thank you so much. I just appreciate all of you so much,” a tearful Banks told a classroom packed with students, faculty and staff of the downtown San Diego law school, which houses the California Innocence Project. “With this freedom, I just promise you and swear to you I’m going to do great things.”

In 2002, Banks, a football standout at Long Beach Poly High School, reportedly was set to go to the University of Southern California on a football scholarship.

He was attending summer school at Long Beach Poly when he and Wanetta Gibson, then a sophomore, had an encounter on campus. Gibson then accused Banks, who insisted the encounter was consensual, of rape and kidnapping.

Banks was faced with the option of going to trial and possibly getting a 41-years-to-life sentence, or accepting a plea deal calling for a five-year prison sentence, probation and registration as a sex offender. His attorney recommended the plea deal.

Banks choked up as he described how his mother sold her house and her car and borrowed money to pay for his defense.

“When I was convicted in 2003 at the age of 17, I did not know what to do. I did not know how to survive in prison,” said Banks, now 26.

He sought to fight his wrongful conviction. His initial contacts with the California Innocence Project and similar organizations and attorneys around the country went nowhere.

“He reached out to us, and there was no evidence that was going to get him of prison,” said Justin Brooks, director of the Innocence Project.

Because it was a “she-said, he-said” case, Brooks said, and Banks had pleaded no contest and accepted a deal, there was nothing the project could do.

Banks served his five-year sentence and was put on probation, wearing an ankle bracelet so authorities could monitor him. He was offered several good jobs, only to have the offers rescinded as the result of background checks or because he was prohibited from traveling.

Then, last year, his accuser reached out to him on Facebook. He asked her if she would meet with him and a private investigator. She agreed.

At the meeting, which was recorded without Gibson’s knowledge, she acknowledged that Banks did not rape her. But when asked if she would sign a document to that effect or speak with prosecutors she declined, according to Banks and Brooks.

Gibson and her family had sued the Long Beach schools over the alleged incident, claiming inadequate security, and accepted a $1.5 million settlement. Brooks and Banks, who had known Gibson for some time, said she acknowledged she was afraid the family might lose the settlement money.

But when Banks again contacted the Innocence Project, with the videotaped interview now in hand, he finally got the help he had been seeking.

“Until that moment when we got that recantation” there was nothing the project could do, Brooks said. Once they had it, he said, “we knew we had a chance.”

But it was not a sure thing, the attorney said. If there had been a contested hearing, a judge might not have allowed the videotape into evidence, Brooks said. And prosecutors could have fought efforts to clear Banks on other grounds.

But, Brooks said, the Los Angeles District Attorney’s Office was very cooperative and assigned an investigator to take another look at the case, including re-interviewing Gibson.

In the end, prosecutors did not oppose the effort to exonerate Banks, and Thursday morning a Los Angeles Superior Court vacated the conviction.

A deputy district attorney told the Los Angeles Times that the office does not plan to pursue charges against Gibson, because proving that she committed a crime would be difficult. Long Beach school officials could not be reached for comment Friday, but Brooks said it is unlikely the district would try to recover the settlement payment. Gibson could not be reached for comment, and The Associated Press reported that prosecutors and defense attorneys have said they have been unable to contact her recently.

Despite all that he has been through, the key for Banks at this point is the label he has shed.

“For the rest of his life he was going to be convicted sex offender,” said Brooks, who noted that Banks’ case is the first the project has taken in its 12-year history involving someone already out of prison.

Banks, who wore a T-shirt depicting a California license plate spelling out XONR8, said he has been working out strenuously and hopes to win a tryout with an NFL team.

“Yesterday was the best day of my life …,” he said. “I feel like the words ‘thank you’ don’t add up for what has been done for me, so I am still looking for ways. ”